


ask me no questions I will tell you no lies.

by wandererghost



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wandererghost/pseuds/wandererghost
Summary: Kind of an AU in which they're in their mid-twenties. Josie's human and Hope's a full tribrid with her humanity switched off and they talk* after a one night stand.*read talk as in annoying and flirting with each other back and forth.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 20
Kudos: 223





	1. Chapter 1

Hope would not deny it. She definitely thought that sex would make her feel something other than physical desire. 

She thought that once their limbs would untangle themselves, she would immediately feel some kind of warmth on her chest and the need of physical touch would only be for the emotional effect that the girl sleeping next to her would give her. 

Surprise, it didn’t. Of course it wouldn’t.

Physical needs but not quite emotional ones. She should’ve known. After all, she still had her humanity off, did she really expect to just  _ feel _ again?

Hope put on a t-shirt that she found lying around the floor, her panties and then she tried to fix her hair a bit.

In front of her apartment there was a big billboard that switched neon colors every night and painted her entire apartment with the reflection of different hues due to the floor to ceiling windows. Her place was the penthouse of the building and the billboard was now projecting a soft red color 

She got out of her room and found the entire apartment bathed with a red light, the blurred windows fogged due to the cold. It was a nice view, magical even. It provided the entire place an air of stillness, peacefulness. 

And yes, when her nights usually turned red, it seemed mysterious and uncomfortable to other people. But not for Hope. This was her home. Her view. And she was okay with it. 

Too bad she couldn’t feel it though.

Hope walked to the piano next to one of the windows and gracefully sat on the bench. She gently caressed the keys and then closed her eyes. In a matter of seconds, her apartment was filled with a soft but sad melody. A piece she knew by heart. A piece she didn’t even need to have her eyes open for.

So she gave herself to it. Gave her all into the melody. Soft but loud enough to wake the other girl sleeping in the next room, ignorant to all the silent war that was going on around her. 

So Hope kept playing the melody until it eventually ended. She swallowed and remained with her fingers gently pressed on the keys. Her apartament going back to the neutral and lonely silence of the night. But when she opened her eyes, she wasn’t alone anymore. 

Brown hair that looked reddish under the light was falling softly on her face and her eyes had a curious glint on them while she leaned on the piano. ‘’I didn’t know you played the piano’’ She said, beyond amused. 

‘’Well, now you do’’ Hope rolled her eyes.

‘’Since when do you play it? Who taught you?’’ 

But Hope didn’t answer. She didn’t want to. Yes, the girl was beyond beautiful and attractive as fuck but she didn’t understand why she had to socialize now. She didn’t understand the need to feel somewhat emotionally attached to the people you just had sex with. Why can’t it just be sex with perfect strangers and then move on? But of course, she couldn’t understand because Hope hadn’t been able to feel any other emotion that wasn't anger or hidden sadness and then, indifference.

‘’I just do’’ She shrugged.

‘’Someone had to teach you’’ Josie smirked and leaned more into the piano. Putting her right hand under her chin.

‘’Yes. But that’s none of your business’’ Hope rolled her eyes again.

As it would be usual by now and under the effects of alcohol or weed, then the post-sex ‘’glow’’, she would think that the person would be upset by now, or would have screamed at her asking what the hell was wrong with her and why she was so rude and detached. Then, noticing Hope’s lack of emotional response, they would get out of her apartment as soon as they could.

Or at least, that was what had happened every time she had brought men or women to her apartment. At the beginning everything would be all about desire and passion and get into bed so they could release the sexual tension. Then once that was done, they would normally look for conversation, ask her out on a date, want to know more about the mysterious bartender in the club downstairs.

But when they’d find out that  _ the mysterious bartender _ was just sarcastic, cocky, rude and detached, well, they would walk away offended even before she could have her morning tea and get started with her day.

Other times, and if they were humans or witches, Hope would feed for a while until she got bored and let them go. 

_ It is what it is _ , she had told them many times before.

Honestly, Hope couldn’t care less. She got what she wanted, right? But, needless to say, she had never played the piano in front of anyone before. And none of them had pretty, shining and curious eyes that were still studying her intently. Most of them would have been turning around the corner and getting the hell out, others would just be looking for another round. And if Hope was in a mood, she would be feeding off of them. 

Except, apparently, this girl. She just kept looking at Hope as if she was some difficult piece of the puzzle. 

‘’Are you going to keep staring at me until I say something?’’ Hope asked, leaning on the window and staring back at Josie.

‘’Why?’’ Josie raised an eyebrow and smiled. ‘’Is it bothering you?’’

Hope chuckled. ‘’Nothing bothers me’’ 

‘’Oh really? I thought that my previous questions did?’’

‘’Actually, scratch that’’ Hope licked her lips. ‘’You being here, do’’

‘’Is that so?’’ She smiled and eyed Hope up and down. ‘’3 hours ago didn’t seem so’’ She smirked knowingly.

‘’You do realise that the reason you’re here is because I wanted to get laid, right?’’ Hope asked, raising an eyebrow. ‘’You can go anytime you want now’’

‘’I know that’’ Josie laid her hand flat on the piano’s surface. ‘’But you do realise that I wanted that too, right? You didn’t use me’’ She shrugged. ‘’We used each other for selfish reasons’’ 

Hope sighed. ‘’Then why the hell are you still here annoying my time? We got what we wanted so why don’t you just go?’’

Josie tilted her head and then clicked her tongue, eyeing Hope once again. “See, I was about to leave but... you have my t-shirt so... I kinda need it back unless you want me to steal your clothes. Also, you started playing the piano. The same piano we had sex on. That's kinda interesting. I assume you don't play the piano right after you had sex on it unless there’s something bothering you”

“Wow, you like to read people. Awesome’’ Hope laughed humorlessly ‘’Only if you had been right...”

“I know I'm right’’ She frowned. ‘’You didn't expect to wake me up once you started playing it so you didn't care if you woke me or not so... There must be something bothering you”

Hope rolled her eyes, she was already tired of this, but she couldn’t deny that she was at least interested. ‘’This conversation’’ She deadpanned.

“Why did you start playing it?” Josie pushed again. She walked around the piano to be right next to Hope and leaned on the window as well. 

Hope noticed that she had put her bra and pants on but left the latter unbuttoned. Under the soft glow of the red light, Josie could definitely take her breath away. Her hair falling in soft waves, her lips red and inviting, and her skin looked so soft and smooth that Hope wanted nothing more than to place her hands on it again. She licked her lips and looked up to lock eyes with the brunette.

‘’None. Of. Your. Business’’ She repeated slowly, emphasising every word.

“I could do this all night, you know?’’ Josie smirked and reached out to gently caress Hope’s arm before she pulled away. ‘’Since nothing bothers you but my presence. You’re actually cute when you’re annoyed”

“I'm not usually the one who asks this in these particular situations but, what the hell is wrong with you? Why don't you just go and leave me alone?”

Josie pouted and Hope’s gaze drifted towards her lips. “Like you’re used to? Everyone leaves you alone after you say some sarcastic, evasive comment, right?” 

“Oh. My. God’’ Hope chuckled. ‘’I didn't know you were this intense when-”

“When you hit on me? I know. Hard to resist” She pouted again. 

What the fuck? Why was this girl so intense and why was Hope enjoying it so much?

“What is this? Some stupid, cheap, psychological analyses to determine what exactly? That you're good at reading people?” She narrowed her eyes.

“So I did read you right” Josie smiled triumphantly.

Hope rolled her eyes and looked away from Josie. The room was completely red by now. For some reason, Hope always spent her red nights alone. She supposed she should have stuck to that rule that night. If so, maybe she wouldn't have to deal with this. Whatever this was.

"Look, I-uh..." Hope sighed. She got up from the bench and walked past Josie, going straight to the kitchen. “I'm not some mysterious thing as you apparently want to see me as, okay? I just wanted to play the damn piano”

"Hmm" 

Josie stayed in silence and watched as Hope made tea. 

"I want tea as well"

"Well, I just made for one cup"

“But I'm also cold” Josie pouted.

“I'm making tea for me because I'm cold and this is my house, I didn't ask if you wanted because I don't want to give you the impression that you're staying longer than you had. You are going to leave” 

“You thought I was going to leave right now? After that conversation? No way” 

“Conversation?” She laughed sarcastically. “More of you trying to annoy the hell out of me” Hope raised an eyebrow and leaned on the counter, looking indifferently at the teapot.

There was something about this stranger that irked Hope in a way that she was finding it amusing. Interesting. She liked it. And  _ that _ didn't normally happen.

“It worked though” Josie whispered to herself but Hope was able to catch it thanks to her superhearing. She smirked and rolled her eyes. 

“Honestly?" Josie spoke up after a while and Hope looked up to catch her eyes across the kitchen. "You are not a mysterious thing. You just seem interesting…" She tilted her head, thinking. "A creature with so many layers”

“How poetic” 

She went to the sofá and placed her cup of tea on the coffee table just so she could put on the cardigan that she kept on the couch. Josie sat in front of her and took the cup of tea from the table.

“Hey!” Hope complained. Why was this girl so annoying?

“You've been way too rude. It's only fair, thank you”

Hope leaned and reached for the cup, successfully taking it away from Josie's hands. She was sick of this girl but maybe, Hope was starting to realize that truly, she wasn't. She was amused and interested in her. 

“Not your cup of tea” Hope pointed out 

“Thanks to you and your stubbornness, that is. If you don't mind I'm going to prepare a cup myself” She got up from the couch but when she walked past Hope, Hope grabbed her hand and stopped her.

“Fine. Here” She handed her the cup. Their fingers brushing and Hope was suddenly too aware of Josie's blush. “I'm not going to allow my kitchen to be a mess right now” 

“I was not going to make your kitchen a mess” Josie took a sip and sat next to Hope on the sofá. Way too close now. “If it’s worth it, I know how to handle myself in it” 

“Congratulations” Hope narrowed her eyes when she noticed that Josie was adjusting herself so she could be much closer to Hope. She reached out and started to softly play with Hope's necklaces, her fingers slowly caressing the skin there.

“Now give me back my tea” Hope cleared her throat, feeling the familiar heat pooling in her lower abdomen.

“Thanks” Josie smiled brightly and removed her hands.

“Whatever” 

Josie just kept on smiling until Hope drew her eyes to her perfect lips. When they both kept looking at each in the bar throughout the night, it was obvious. They wanted each other. So, not many words or introductions were exchanged before they went upstairs and straight to bed.

Now Hope was thinking that maybe she had never stumbled upon someone like Josie before and couldn't quite decide if the girl was naïve or just plain stubborn. 

“Why are you still here? Be honest” Hope softly whispered, looking how Josie slowly bit her lip now.

“As honest as you’ve been up to now?” She raised her eyebrows and giggled. 

“Good point”

“I-uh... as I told you. I was going to leave but you have my t-shirt and you haven’t given it back. I think the only way of getting it out of you is to take it off myself which...” She smirked and once again, reached out to play with Hope's necklaces. “Is a bad idea since we both know what’s going to happen after... And you don't want me here anymore so...” 

Hope nodded and grabbed Josie's wrist. In a swift and graceful movement she switched their positions and Josie slightly gasped. She was now lying on her back with Hope hovering above her. Hope ran a hand through her hair to move it out of the way and then supported her weight on her elbows. “Why were you so interested in me playing the piano?”

Josie swallowed. Hard. Ber blush only getting darker and Hope noticed her body heat increasing. “To be honest? You're the weirdest thing I've ever run to” 

Hope could listen and feel Josie's heart beating frantically, and it was only turning her on even more.

“Thanks for reminding me that” She chuckled and wet her lips slowly, making sure that Josie watched her do it.

“Let me finish" Josie said after a little while. A little bit breathless too. "As I was saying, you don't show emotion... it’s almost like you're not feeling anything, and I was okay with that because honestly, I was just here for the sex" She smirked and placed her hands on the back of Hope's neck, playing with her hair and drawing Hope's face closer to hers. "But seeing you playing that melody and being completely emotional? And that melody being so beautiful but sad? That doesn’t fit in with the profile”

“I caught your curious eye, good luck” She whispered.

Josie just stared at her, attentively looking at Hope and biting her lips. Hope couldn't take it anymore, she was convinced that Josie's lips were begging to be kissed. She couldn't keep her waiting, right? She closed the distance and put her own lips on them.

At first it was soft and gentle, their lips dancing with each other in a slow motion, then Josie opened her mouth and Hope took the opportunity to put her tongue inside Josie's mouth to play with her own. The room was filled again with melody, but this time it was only Josie's low and quiet moans. Hope broke the kiss so she could kiss her jaw and work her way towards her neck. 

No, she won't feed. Hope didn't understand why, she just knew that feeding wasn't in her plans today when she saw Josie in the bar. Usually, when Hope feeded in her own apartment she wasn't gentle nor nice. She was careless if she wanted to be. She didn't care about the other person's well-being and if they died then that was on them, not on Hope. If that ever made sense. Well, it made sense for her. 

Hope had a few people dying on her and it was a bummer later having to dispose of a body when she only wanted to literally do anything else.

But not Josie. She wouldn't feed off Josie and be careless. Hope got the feeling that the other girl was made to be taken care of and be treated like a princess.

Josie kept moaning while Hope kept kissing, biting and licking her neck until she shut her up by kissing her lips again. Gladly welcoming the moans in her mouth. Fighting the urge to elongate her fangs and feed. She knew that if she spent another second on her neck, she would eventually end up feeding from Josie. 

That was of course until Josie decided to break the kiss and gasp for air. Panting against Hope's mouth. Hope moved on to kiss her chest, giving her a chance to steady her breathing when Josie whispered:

"Why don't you just tell me?"

Hope stopped her kissing and tilted her head. "Tell you what?"

"Why you played the piano tonight" She swallowed.

Hope groaned and buried her face in Josie's chest. Inhaling her sweet scent. "You won't ever stop, will you?"

Josie shook her head and bit her lip again, watching Hope with dark but still curious and expectant eyes. 

"Nope" She shook her head.

Nope. She wouldn't until Hope Hope told her. Hope sighed and sat up, running another hand through her hair.

“My uncle taught me when I was 9. He said that it would be one of the greatest knowledge he would pass on me” 

Josie followed her actions and also sat up, breathless and flushed, listening attentively to Hope. 

Hope rolled her eyes. “So by the time he died, I was 15 and knew everything he knew”

“I-uh…" Josie nodded. "Is that his piano?” 

“Yes” Hope swallowed, glancing back at the piano behind her.

“Why were you playing?” Josie asked, she noticed how Hope's entire demeanor changed, it became delicate and somehow fragile. But she did not say anything about it. 

“It’s funny actually” Hope slightly smiled but her smile didn't reach her eyes. “We shared this great passion for music. You're right. Now I don't feel anything. But the piano makes me”

“And could it? I mean, did you feel something playing tonight?” 

“Sort of” She nodded and pursed her lips. Josie stayed quiet, watching Hope. “Great. Now I scared you off and you’d probably think I'm crazy” She rolled her eyes “You have your info now, are you happy and willing to go?” 

“Are you serious? Do you still want me to go after  _ that? _ ” 

Of course Josie wouldn't get scared because of that. She seemed too smart for it. But maybe not smart enough to know that she honestly shouldn't keep on pressing a vampire's (tribrid actually) buttons “How long since you last played?” 

“Will your questions ever be over?”

“Nope” 

Hope chuckled and shrugged. “I just played, that's what got me into this interrogation room” 

“No, you know what I mean” She shook her head.

“Uh, probably a month ago” 

“Why did you play it tonight?” 

Hope shook her head. No. Nope. She wasn't doing this. It was already too much information about herself. More than she had shared with anyone before and this girl's curiosity seemed to never run out. 

“That's enough” Hope warned carefully, her voice low but dangerous.

”Okay" Josie slowly nodded and pursed her lips. Looking anywhere but at Hope now. "I'll go now. It's your boundaries and reasons. I shouldn’t be pushing you out of your comfort zone”

She got up from the sofá and went back to the room.

Hope sighed. If it were another person, she would probably just let it be and said another offensive thing for them not to come back to her place either. She knew it was wrong, of course she knew, but also she didn't care if they got their feelings hurt. She was a vampire with her humanity off, for fuck sake she didn't give a shit about people's feelings.

But this girl, this girl was somehow different. Other people, human or witch, would ask her what the fuck was wrong with her. The humans would get hurt and walk away. Witches would learn that she had her humanity off then quicky thanked her for the sex and be out as soon as they could, afraid that Hope would end up killing them or something. Actually, Hope had killed quite a few to be honest but that was irrelevant now.

Josie just tried to understand her, and in a pretty smart way of doing it, she might add. Hope clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes, leaning her head on the back of the sofá and playing with her hands.

Ah, fuck it. 

She went to her room again and gently closed the door behind her, leaning on it. She saw Josie still dressed with her jeans and bra, moving around the room to find her other shoe until she noticed Hope and crossed her arms.

“What do you want?” She frowned.

“You’re playing hard on me, now?”

“No. I’m just gonna go like you wanted”

Hope nodded. “Look, I'm not used to talking about myself. Mostly because people don't care, they’re too offended by my words and I get it. But then you come along and want to know everything and it’s just...weird, okay? Normally, I would push you away and move on with my life” 

Josie sighed and uncrossed her arms. “You don't want to talk about you? Fine. Don't" She walked a few steps closer towards Hope. "But I'm gonna talk about me, then.”

Hope shook her head. “I don't really want to-”

“I don't care” Josie chuckled. “I was at that bar because my sister had dragged me there-"

“Oh. So that was the blonde that was with you. I was hoping for her to leave sometime soon” 

“What’s it with you and interrupting people while they're speaking?” Josie scolded. "So she dragged me there while I truly didn't want to go out this weekend-"

“And you couldn't say no?” She tilted her head

“Stop interrupting”

"Okay” Hope walked to the loveseat and made herself comfortable. Then, she thought that the only thing missing was a cup of tea. Shit, did she finish her first cup of tea in the first place? Would it be too rude to just go and get it?

"So" Josie sighed. "My sister has been in this mood lately and her mood sometimes becomes  _ my _ mood as well. So no, I couldn't say no Hope because she needed me so I wanted to be there for her"

“I don't understand why you're telling me this” She whispered. 

"I'm telling you this because we don't know each other, Hope. You're just some random stranger I happened to have sex with. But I… I liked you" She shrugged. "I don't know why, you're pretty rude actually. So I wanted to get to know you. It's only normal. Excuse me for being human" She rolled her eyes, annoyed, then continued to look for her lost shoe.

_ Excuse me for being human. _ That was it, wasn't it? Human. Hope wasn't a human but still, she could understand Josie's point if she had her humanity back on. However, she didn't. She had it off and it made everything feel numb and dead. As if she were dead. And for long, she had loved it. With her humanity off, she couldn't feel the blinding anger and sadness she had to carry with after her parent's death. She didn't need to be sad. She didn't need to be anything. 

But all this numbness was making her tired and lately, she had been subtly finding ways to make herself feel again. To switch it back on without necessarily having to switch it on? If that even made sense. Whatever. Hope only knew that she didn't want it fully on again, then she would feel herself crumble with the intensity of her own feelings.

“By this point you would know that I’m not-" 

“What? Normal?" Josie furrowed her eyebrows, but the furrow dissolved when she found her missing shoe and she cheered happily.

“Who’s the one interrupting now?” Hope smiled. Yeap, she was still amused.

“I'm just saying that you're interesting. I wanted to know why, I'm sorry. I should have played with the "rules" instead of whatever this was" 

“I have a war zone” Hope admitted after a long moment of staring contest between them. “Here” She pointed to her head. “And here” Then, her heart. “I'm not made for socializing. I avoid it if I can. And people go away after because I make them. But I never met anyone who tried to get to know me after even if I made them go away” 

Josie shrugged her shoulders indifferently “You just did” She finished tying her shoelaces and pointed to the closet “You mind? Apparently you won't give mine back” 

But Hope remained quiet, observing her. When she felt sexually frustrated and wanted to just have sex without having to deal with the drama of string attached kind of things, she would normally go for dumb, easily offended people that couldn't even stand up to her. But Josie was different, she could tell, Josie could defy her.

“I played the piano tonight because I wanted to feel something other than the usual void” She decided to admit. Josie would still go anyway. What harm could it do to open up a little to a perfect stranger? “The piano is the only thing capable of making me feel something and I hate it. I hate that I'm not capable of feeling anymore. I thought that maybe the physical desire I felt for you would magically turn into an emotional one. It didn’t. So I got angry. And then you came and started asking me all these questions and I just sort of freaked out” 

Josie tilted her head and furrowed her eyebrows again. Her smile only growing by the second “You’re a mess” She muttered, amused.

“Yes, and you're way too curious” Hope rolled her eyes.

“So, you wanted to feel something for me?” She raised an eyebrow and smirked at Hope.

“That's really the only thing you got from that? Besides, the piano is more attractive than you” 

“Yes, it is! Have you seen that thing? It's beautiful!” Josie licked her lips and eyed Hope, her eyes darkening once again but then she shut her eyes for a moment and shook her head. "So? Are you going to give me my t-shirt back or can I borrow one? You know, I can't leave this place just wearing a bra"

“I... uh. Can you stay?" Hope cleared her throat. "You don't have to leave at 3am in the morning. The city isn’t safe” 

She knew for a fact that it wasn't. God only knew what kind of creatures roamed the city at night. 

Josie smirked again and almost laughed “Wait. I didn’t know you cared” Hope groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Your profile is getting  _ confuser and confuser _ ” 

“Will you stay then?” 

“Aww" Josie smiled adorably and Hope almost wanted to throw the pillow at her to make her stop. "You’re trying” 

“Really? Sorry, I didn’t realise I was. What shocking news, Love” Yeap, she might just grab the pillow now and target her.

Josie just laughed. “I was joking. You owe me a cup of tea then, though” 

Hope smiled. Nope. She didn't want to make a cup of tea again at 3 in the fucking morning. And she won't. She stood up from the loveseat and walked towards Josie, slowly circling her with her arms and gently unclasping her bra. 

“I have a better idea since we’re both up now” She muttered, too close to Josie's face that when she spoke, her lips brushed against the other girl's.


	2. careful what you wish for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! Because you asked for it, here's a chapter two ^-^  
> also, I want you guys to know that english isn't my native language so bear with me

It was intoxicating really, and one of the few things Hope was sure she could fully enjoy even with her humanity off. 

The only thing that made her feel like she wasn't some kind of walking corpse.

But don't get her wrong, she wasn't a ripper. Hope had more control of her bloodlust than probably the oldest vampire, and trust her, she knew who the oldest vampire was. 

It was something about drinking someone's blood that made her own feel on fire. Her senses alert and sharp. She could feel the other person's heartbeat rising and eventually dropping when all blood was drained from them. Their erratic breathing pattern while they struggled to breathe. Their bodies dumbly fighting Hope's strength in an attempt to escape the assault. 

It was stupid actually, to do so that is.

Hope was way too strong and easily pinned them down, blocking their attempts and restraining their every movement. Still, she sometimes gave them hope that they could escape her. 

It made everything more amusing when Hope showed off her strength on them. The look of pure panic they would give her was beyond anything else. She enjoyed it. It made her feel like a cat that was playing with its food. And it felt good. 

Hope knew she should be worrying about the fact that  _ that _ mindset reminded her of her dad's. But she also found that she didn't care. 

Not when the guy in front of her was running away from her, trying to escape. He had run to the Hospital's parking lot now, probably thinking that he had succeeded in his escape and the awful monster disguised as a beautiful woman, had disappeared, judging by the way that he had bent down, catching his breath.

He was handsome. Tall, curly black hair, brown eyes, light beard. Yeap, he was handsome. And maybe Hope's type if he wasn't currently her victim and she wasn't so damn hungry. 

Oh, well. 

Hope smirked when she noticed that he was starting to walk to his car. A relief smiled on his face. Oh no. She couldn't have that. He had thought for too long that he had escaped her. 

In two seconds, Hope was in front of him. Still smirking. Her eyes shining with hunger. The guy gasped and his eyes went wide but Hope didn't waste any more seconds and threw him to the side of the car, sinking her fangs in his neck. Same place where she had before. 

Nope. She didn't give a shit about  _ caring _ that it was violent and he would probably die on her and then she had to dispose of yet another body. She couldn't care less about anything when he tasted that good and blood was all she could focus on. 

Except when her perfect hearing caught the sweet and annoyed voice of a woman a few yards away from her in the deserted parking lot. 

"Lizzie, for the hundredth time today. I'm not going with you guys. I can listen to you both when you talk about comic books for hours and hours, but going to an actual theme party about it, that's just going too far for me"

Hope stopped her assault on the guy and moved them both to the edge of the parking lot. Successfully hiding them from her view. 

Hope frowned. It was the same girl she had slept with two nights ago. Josie. The way too curious and gorgeous girl Hope perhaps might or might not, had been slightly thinking about ever since. 

The guy made a complaining noise and Hope tightened her grasp on his shirt. "Shut up" She hissed, looking straight at his eyes.

"Yes, I know" Josie muttered, and Hope focused her enhanced hearing on her again. "But that was different. It was a club. Not a themed superhero party. You're not going to drag me again to a-" Josie cut herself off and rolled her eyes. 

She was wearing black jeans and a loose pastel pink shirt tucked under it. A white coat hanging from her forearm along with a purse. She was looking for something on her purse while holding her phone between her left shoulder and ear. 

"I…" She swallowed. "Yeah, I don't have an excuse for that. But I'm not sorry that I left you alone. And you shouldn't be either. If I recall correctly, you told me that a stranger took you home as well" 

Hope turned to the guy in front of her and pursed her lips. She cleared the remnants of blood on her chin and smiled. Looking directly at his eyes. 

"Stay here. Don't move until I tell you to" She commanded in a silky sweet voice. 

"I won't move" The guy weakly stated. 

Hope let go of his shirt and he fell limply to the ground and obediently stayed there. Hope rolled her eyes and then drew them back to Josie again.

She must have found what she was looking for in her purse because the moment that Josie was getting her hand out of it, she probably forgot that her phone was still tucked between her shoulder and ear and moved her head to check the item in her hand closer.

The phone fell off but Hope was faster though, and in a swift movement she placed herself behind Josie and caught it. 

"You dropped this" she whispered.

Josie shrieked and spun around. She brought her hand to her chest and her eyes went comically wide, looking at Hope with an alarmed expression. 

"You should be more careful, you know?" Hope smirked, tilting her head innocently. 

"Oh my god" Josie mumbled. She was breathing erratically. 

"I'm sorry love, did I scare you?" Hope innocently smiled and offered Josie her phone. 

Josie just looked at her phone like it was an alien before drawing her eyes back to Hope. Her mouth slightly opened due to the shock. Hope just frowned and offered her phone again, making sure that whoever Josie was talking to, the call had ended. Still, she subtly pressed the lock button and if it hadn't, then now it had.

Josie seemed to get back to herself and closed her mouth, blinked once, twice. Then, she cleared her throat. "Yes, I… Yes" She nodded. Looking at Hope startled but still without taking her phone from Hope's hand.

"Well?" 

"Huh?" Josie tilted her head. Confused. Her eyes not leaving Hope's face. 

"Your phone? The one that's still in my hand? You're not going to take it?" Hope emphasized her words by moving the phone in front of her. 

"I…" She cleared her throat again. "Yes" She nodded. "Yes. I will" 

She reached out and finally took her phone from Hope's hand. Hope noticed that the item in Josie's hand was her car keys.

"How did you…? Where…?" She trailed off and then shook her head. "Where did you come from?" She settled for saying, crossing her arms on her chest. 

Hope shrugged. "Not glad to see me?" She raised an eyebrow. 

She shook her head. "Not glad?" Josie blinked. "You startled me!" Then, she frowned.

Hope shrugged her shoulders again and tucked her hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "I saved your phone" She leaned a little. "You're welcome, by the way"

"I didn't ask you to" Josie shrugged, imitating Hope's demeanor. 

Hope found it even more amusing. 

"Actually, I didn't even know you were around" She furrowed her eyebrows. "How did you know where I was?" She cocked her head to the side. "Were you stalking me or something?"

"Please" Hope chuckled. "Don't think so highly of yourself, love" 

"So you weren't stalking me then?" Hope shook her head no. "Okay. So you were just casually lurking around waiting for my phone to drop so you could catch it and  _ save _ it?" 

Hope furrowed her eyebrows. 

"My hero" Josie rolled her eyes. 

"A simple  _ thank you _ would do"

"Thank you" Josie deadpanned. 

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" 

"So you were stalking me?" Josie uncrossed her arms and pointed at Hope. "This is you confirming it?"

Ah, yes. Now Hope remembered Josie's curious nature. It slightly annoyed her but it definitely amused her.

" _ No _ " She pointed out. "I was…" She smirked. "Having dinner"

"You do know that doesn't answer my question, right?" Josie stated, raising an eyebrow. 

"You do know that I don't care if I answer your questions, right?" Hope leaned it a little bit more and smirked. 

"You're impossible" Josie sighed. "Thank you for  _ saving  _ my phone from what surely was its path to a broken screen that I'm also pretty sure could have gotten fixed with absolutely no issue..." Now she was pointing at Hope with the hand that was holding her phone. "But I wasn't expecting to bump into you and you seem kind of stalkery right now… which..." She raised her eyebrows and showed Hope a lip smiled before turning around and heading to, what Hope assumed, was her car. 

Hope didn't use her vamp speed, but she was graceful enough to walk faster than Josie and place herself in front of her. 

Josie bumped into her and she didn't move away after. 

"Are you busy right now?" Hope asked because yeah, maybe feeding on the guy didn't seem fun to her anymore. 

Maybe seeing Josie had ignited some kind of interest and curiosity that Hope didn't want to spend too much time thinking on.

Hold on.

Shit. The guy. 

Wait. No, it was fine. He was compelled to stupidly stay there. 

"Excuse me?" Josie asked.

"Are you busy right now?" She repeated, rolling her eyes. 

"I just got out of work" Josie deadpanned. "What do you think?"

Hope nodded. "I think…" She smirked. "That you should come with me" 

"I  _ should _ ?" Josie asked. She was trying so hard to keep her voice annoyed but Hope could sense a little bit of excitement in it. 

Hope nodded as it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

"And why should I?" 

"My goodness" Hope chuckled. "You never stop with the questions, do you love?" 

"I mean I could..." Josie smiled. "But if I remember correctly, it bothered you"

"And you just love to keep me bothered?" Hope raised an eyebrow. 

Josie just shrugged and innocently smiled. "If I go with you, where would I end up? Dead in a ditch somewhere?" She teased. 

But Hope just laughed. Genuinely laughed. She didn't even know she could still do that anymore but Josie's words were too comical for her. She had left people dead in a ditch somewhere before. 

"What's so funny?" She pouted.

Hope sighed and smiled. "I don't know. I mean, it might happen. Depends on my mood really. But I think that for now, you're actually pretty safe" She stated nonchalantly. 

"I don't actually know if you're joking or god forbid, if you're serious right now" She narrowed her eyes. 

"Wouldn't you like to find out then?"

"Actually, no. I wouldn't" Josie stepped back a little. "It would be a poor sense of judgment if I go... wherever that is you want to go, with you" She walked around Hope and headed directly to her car. Opened the door and threw her stuff inside. 

Hope slowly approached and placed herself in front of Josie again. Trapping her between the door and her body. Maybe this game of cat and mouse was even more amusing than the one she had been playing before with her meal. 

Josie gulped and her eyes went wide again, she swallowed and focused her eyes on Hope's. Hope could tell that there was stubbornness there and a hint of defiance too. 

She loved it. 

So she decided that she wouldn't compel her either. It was no fun if she did. 

"You sure you don't want to go?" She asked, her voice low and sweet. "We could have fun" 

Josie had caught her breath and then slowly let it go. "You avoid my questions about you stalking me, then you make jokes about leaving me for dead in a ditch somewhere" Josie kindly smiled. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I know I can have fun with you" Her cheeks turned pink. "But I would be insane if after those claims, I still decided to go" She shrugged. 

Hope pouted and slightly nodded. "You're smart. I give you that"

"Did you think I wasn't?" Josie tilted her head. Offended.

Hope looked at the white coat now lying in the back seat. She shook her head. "I always thought you were" 

Josie smirked. "So you see now why I can't go?"

"Yeah, I do" She shrugged indifferently. "And it's probably for the best" She recognized it. Honestly. She did. Hope might be interested and amused now but what guaranteed her that she wouldn't feed from Josie later or even kill her if she got bored or way too annoyed?

Wait. 

Why did she care if she ended up killing her?

Another body to get rid of. Yeap. That must be it. It was always annoying to get rid of a body.

"I don't get you" Josie whispered. She grabbed Hope by her jacket and pulled her a little bit closer. Her eyes went from stubborn to interested in a matter of seconds. "Two nights ago you were doing everything in your power to throw me out of your apartment and now you're here, out of the blue and asking me to go with you somewhere?" She raised an eyebrow and looked at Hope's red lips.

Hope made a show of licking them slowly only to see Josie's eyes darkening. 

"I honestly didn't expect to see you again" She admitted, looking directly into Hope's eyes. "But I'm glad I did. I heard you pretty clear when you told me you're not made for socializing and that you have your inner demons, whatever those might be. Maybe that's why I thought that you would remain as a perfect stranger and that I wouldn't see you again. That you wouldn't look for me" Josie dropped her eyes for a moment before looking back up. "But if this is you asking for a little bit more of company then I think I could actually take the risk"

Hope swallowed. She wasn't stupid. She knew something was up. But, what was it? What was making her feel anxious and restless when she could only feel indifference and amusement towards everything? Could it be the way that Josie was staring at her? As if she knew every one of Hope's secrets? Even if Josie had said otherwise, Hope got the feeling that Josie did actually get her. That Josie could actually read her. And  _ that _ made her unsettled. 

They had spent just one night together two days ago and met by accident that night, but Hope was sure that after the first night, there was something about Josie. Something that made Hope wanting to stay and see what happens, see how it would play out. 

And that didn't exactly scare her. But it did make her feel restless. 

"What is it about you?" She slowly asked, staring back into her eyes. 

"Huh?" Josie kept staring at Hope's lips, and she was slightly leaning in.

Hope had thought at the beginning that Josie's obvious warmth could magically make her feel the same way. But it wasn't her warmth that made Hope feel something. It was her curious eyes. Her neverending questions. Her need to know. Her need of Hope to give her an answer. An answer that Hope didn't have, or didn't want to deliver. Josie was a danger to Hope's humanity being off because she could play with it and twist it at her will. She could make Hope act and react if she wanted to. If she pressed and pushed for long enough. 

And even though she was tired of being a walking corpse feeling nothing but numbness, Hope wasn't ready to have her humanity switched back on. She wasn't ready for feelings.

God only knew how intense they could be. How damaged they were. 

"You're dangerous" Hope realized out loud and leaned a bit back.

"What?" Josie blinked and leaned back as well. "How can I be dangerous? You're the one th-"

"You are" Hope muttered. More convinced now. "I can't go anywhere with you" 

"Are you serious? Do you like to play with people?" Josie frowned. 

Hope stepped back. She felt the need to put as much distance as she could from the other woman. 

"As a matter of fact, I do" She said confidently. "Maybe everything I told you was just a lie and you fell for it"

She felt like she was exposed, and she didn't like that feeling. At all. Besides, humanity's switch was just it. A switch. A decision. A feeling. A sensation. Too strong that could affect her and break down her walls and that would be it. Humanity flooding back again as if waiting for the cracks to finally give in so it could be able to give place to the tsunami that was just waiting to happen. 

"And I think you should leave" Hope said, her face a total expression of indifference. 

Josie huffed and pushed Hope away. 

"I don't know why I even bother" She chuckled. "I knew you-" She shook her head. "Goodbye, Hope" 

She looked one more time at Hope before getting into her car, slamming the door shut and in a matter of seconds, she was gone. 

Hope immediately vamp speed towards the edge of the parking lot where she had left the guy and smiled. He was still there looking at the sky, his eyes glazed over. 

"I didn't want to kill you" Hope whispered, caressing the guy's cheek. "But I might just do that. Don't worry, though. This time it won't be on you, it'll be on me. I fully intend to kill you" 

She slowly smiled, letting her fang elongate before lunging forward. Glad that the parking lot was deserted.

Glad that she could breathe again. That there wasn't anything directly threatening her. She felt like the predator she was supposed to be instead of the prey that Josie made her feel for a moment.

With Josie, she didn't know if she was supposed to be the cat or the mouse. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think. I love to read your comments.


	3. we're looking for angels in the darkest of skies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> forewarning: kind of a dark chapter here.

"I'm bored" Hope complained out loud, rolling her eyes. 

She poured some more wine into her glass and threw the third empty bottle in the kitchen's nearest bin before returning to the living room. 

"You guys…" She pursed her lips, looking up and down to the couple of strangers currently invading her home. "Bore me to death" She spit out. "And I'm already dead" 

She circled them, still looking at the half naked blonde dude and the half naked brunette as if she was studying them. 

"Maybe I should just kill you both and let it be done with" She thought out loud, stopping in front of them. "But then the  _ obviously not anymore _ fun would end" 

Hope elongated her fangs and slipped her tongue through each. Savoring the wolf venom before pursing her lips and taking a sip from her glass of wine. Her eyes never leaving the half naked couple currently standing in her living room, compelled, eyes glazed over and waiting for whatever instruction Hope would give them. 

"Maybe I should just tell you to kill each other and see who wins" She raised an eyebrow and smirked, the idea did sound kind of fun. "How would you kill each other? Humor me, what would you do?" She asked the brunette first. 

Hope didn't realize until now but she had chosen her to look just like Josie. 

Huh. 

Tall and skinny as if she were a model. Brown hair that looked reddish under the red hues that the billboard in front of her apartment casted. Brown eyes. But that was where the resemblance ended. This girl didn't have pouty and full lips. Hers were thin. Her body wasn’t as attractive to Hope as Josie’s surely was. Her eyes didn't have any curious and defiant glint on them. They were dull and empty.

And why was Hope thinking  _ once again _ about  _ her _ ?

"I would stab him with a kitchen knife" The girl said. 

Hope rolled her eyes. "That's predictable, honey. And honestly? kind of boring and really messy. What's the excitement in it?" She shot daggers at her with her eyes then drew them to the guy. "How would  _ you _ do it?"

"I would punch her repeatedly and I wouldn't stop until I knew for sure she’s dead" He said. 

Hope groaned loudly and took another sip of wine. "Now,  _ that's _ cliché" She looked him up and down "I'm not surprised, to be honest. Maybe I should just punch  _ you _ over and over again just so you know how it'd feel" She shrugged. "Would you like that?"

The guy didn't respond, he just kept looking at Hope as if Hope was his queen and he was just a mere servant of hers. 

"Tell me" Hope insisted, walking closer to him and standing right in front of him. "Would you like that?" She repeated, searching in his eyes for any kind of fear or doubt.

"You're the hottest woman I've ever seen" The guy effortlessly admitted. "I would love it" He dumbly smiled and looked at Hope with puppy dog eyes.

Hope chuckled and raised her eyebrows. Somehow still not surprised. "Really?" The guy enthusiastically nodded. "That’s fucked up. You're not scared of me, then?" 

He shook his head no. ‘’You’re beautiful’’ He sighed. 

Hope rolled her eyes and walked towards the girl. ‘’What about you? Are you scared of me?’’ 

She, also, shook her head no. ‘’You’re way too beautiful’’ She sighed lovingly and stared at Hope. ‘’Would you like for us to kill each other? We would do anything for you’’ 

She knew she shouldn’t be offended over the fact that these perfect strangers were not scared of her. Deep down, and if she had her humanity on, she knew she didn’t want to be feared, not really. 

But still, Hope was a tribrid. The only one of her kind. Witches were feared due to their powerful magic and everything they could do with it. Wolves were unpredictable and had way too much power on their hands. And vampires, well, vampires were really  _ really _ deadly if they wanted to be. 

Hope was all three of them. 

And yet, these perfect strangers, these boring and pathetic humans were  _ not _ scared of her? 

‘’Anything, huh?’’ Hope asked innocently. 

‘’Anything’’ They both nodded and said at the same time. 

They weren’t scared of her and it was wrong. They  _ should _ be scared of her. Hope was the apex predator among the three known factions. What would Klaus, the Great Evil ever known, would say if he knew that his daughter was not feared having her three curses triggered and even without her humanity off? 

Hope shook her head. She couldn’t allow this to continue. 

She looked at the girl (whose name Hope couldn’t remember and didn’t even care to ask) that looked exactly like Josie. Josie. She huffed. Hope was perfectly fine without  _ her _ before, without having to second guess her strength, her predatory nature. 

Hope was the predator, alright? Not the prey. She was never the prey. Not when she was just a witch. Not after she triggered her werewolf curse. And definitely not after turning into a vampire. Josie had no business making her doubt herself with all her questions and somehow, only with her attitude and her words, expressing dominance over Hope. As if she could get anything out of Hope if she wanted to. As if she didn’t fear her and had more power over her. 

Her jaw hardened and her eyes turned cold. She walked towards the girl and looked straight into her eyes. ‘’I want you to walk to the balcony and jump, knowing that you’re powerless, knowing that I’m the one that made you do it, that I have more power over you’’ 

The girl smiled and nodded happily. She looked at Hope as if Hope had brought her flowers, chocolate and the moon itself. 

No. 

It felt wrong.

Not because she felt guilty, she wasn’t able to feel guilt or shame. No. It was because this stranger wasn’t Josie herself. The one girl that made Hope doubt herself. Josie wouldn’t look at her that way. So happily and obediently. So submissive. Josie would defy her, complain, ask why, ask so  _ so _ many questions. Josie wouldn’t settle for this. 

‘' _ Now _ ’’ She commanded, feeling the hint of frustration at having thought of her once again.

The girl nodded again and walked to the balcony, bitemarks everywhere from where Hope had previously sank her fangs and fed on fer. She opened one of the floor to ceiling windows that led to the balcony and turned around to look at Hope one more time. Her face turned into an expression of pain, panic and fear. As if she was experiencing the most horrible thing that ever happened to her. 

And she was. Of course she was. Hope entering her life had ruined the rest of this innocent girl’s because after that night, there would be no  _ rest of her life _ . Hope did end up killing her for no reason other than self-doubt and insecurity. So there was that. 

Hope studied every and each expression that went through the girl’s face, consumed it like a child would with their favorite TV show, but it did nothing for her. She didn’t regret her decision. She didn’t feel ashamed or guilt. 

She felt absolutely nothing. 

And when the girl threw herself out of the balcony and she heard the splattering sound, she still felt nothing. She just stood there and pursed her lips, searching within herself for any reaction, any emotion, but still,  _ nothing _ .  _ Fucking nothing. _

So Hope convinced herself that the reason for it was because it wasn’t truly Josie the one that jumped. It wasn’t her, it was just some other girl that barely even resembled her. Barely even looked like her. Hope knew that the real threat to her humanity being off was still out there somewhere.

She turned around and drank the last of the wine in the glass before putting the now empty glass aside and approaching the guy. She sighed and looked at his eyes. ‘’You’re going to forget you ever met me. You don’t know my face nor my name. You don’t know where I live or anything about me.’’

He nodded and Hope continued. 

‘’There’s a girl splattered on the street outside. You’re going to get rid of her body, listen to me carefully okay?’’ He nodded again. ‘’No one can find out about her and if they do, I don’t know’’ She shrugged. ‘’Say that you’re the one that bit her and killed her because you’re a psychopath that likes to hit women, you’ll get locked up and who knows, maybe I’m doing a favor to any woman that decides to date you’’

He nodded again and Hope pushed him all the way out of her apartment and locked the door in case he decided to come back for some reason. 

She sighed and grabbed her jacket from the couch. Her apartment all painted in red hues thanks to that billboard outside. It reminded her of the last time it painted it red, it was the night that she met Josie, now five days ago. Five days and a complete stranger had managed to cause such reactions on Hope. Going from expectations, to hope, to lust, amusement, annoyance and self doubt. 

Huh. Maybe Josie did have some kind of power over her.

Hope shook her head and used her vamp speed to get out of her apartment and into the street outside. It was 2am in the morning and there weren’t many people around because the club was closed that night, so she just started walking with no destination in mind until of course, life threw her immediate threat right in front of her face.  _ Again. _

Josie was getting out of a 24h store, carrying two bags of, what Hope assumed, was groceries on each hand and she was wearing a sexy but weird… Costume? Was that supposed to be some kind of superhero? Hope smirked and rolled her eyes, but instead of approaching her, she decided to follow her. It intrigued her the fact that Josie was out in the city at 2am wearing a costume and carrying groceries. 

Josie met with two other people. A blonde that Hope recognized from the club the night she met Josie, she recalled Josie telling her it was her sister, and besides them there was a guy with a wild afro. All three of them were wearing weird costumes and had big smiles on their faces. 

Josie kept pouting and crossing her arms to cover her bare abdomen while she walked behind the other two that were excitedly talking between each other until the guy noticed Josie pouting and started to tease and mess with her along with the blonde until they both made Josie laugh out loud wholeheartedly. 

It was an immediate reaction, Hope smiled when she saw and heard Josie’s laugh. It was so pure and so heart warming that she so desperately wanted to be able to  _ feel _ it as well. However, once she realized that thought hanging there, she hardened her jaw and remembered why Josie was dangerous to her.

Hope thought about the brunette that she had killed not even an hour ago just because to her, she had looked like Josie. But now, looking directly at Josie herself, Hope realized that she wasn’t wrong when she first met the brunette.

Josie could only be treated right. That was why she didn’t feel like hurting her or feeding on her when they met. Hope couldn't bring herself to do so. Not after that first night, not after the parking lot. She couldn’t even stand  _ that _ idea anymore. She so desperately wanted to though, let the threat die as she would with any other threat. But she couldn’t picture herself hurting the actual brunette while looking at those warm and curious eyes. 

She closed her eyes and sighed, bringing a finger to her eyebrow and slowly massaging it. This struggle against her thoughts was more emotion than she had felt since she switched off her humanity after turning into a vampire at 25 years old and having all her buried feelings towards her parent’s death strongly resurface. It’s been a year since that now.

And Hope had been fine really. With it off, Hope didn’t have to feel the pain, the struggle, the regret and guilt. Just the endless void, numbness and boredom. But at least it wasn’t the pain. 

Until of course, certain brunette decided to show up and make her question everything, make her doubt everything. 

Hope wasn’t even looking for Josie, yet she found her and what truly blew her mind was that she couldn’t even bring herself to get rid of her, couldn’t phantom the idea of ever hurting her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> feel free to leave your thoughts <3

**Author's Note:**

> I pictured Dark Josie's demeanor while writing Josie :3


End file.
